I love Star Trek. My favorite show in the franchise is The Next Generation, and I’ve seen almost every film and show within thus far. However, I realized I may have to turn in my combadge if I never see the original series, the one that started it all, so I’ve been watching TOS on Netflix with a family member over the past month or so. Even now as I type this post, I am in the middle of Season 2.

I’d like to know what people’s thoughts are about the original series. It is remembered fondly by many. Watching it myself, I can only wonder if a nostalgia filter is involved with that somehow. Certainly, it may have been good for its time, but I don’t have the benefit of watching this show through the lens of someone who lived in the 1960’s. In my opinion, this show has not aged particularly well; much of the science (at least in Season 1) is preposterous, even for soft sci-fi, and many of the attitudes are horribly outdated. Indeed, a good handful of episodes involved Captain Kirk destabilizing civilizations because he didn’t like the way they did things, even when it was absolutely none of his business. I initially suspected the franchise’s Prime Directive was created because of this man, but it turns out he does it in spite of said directive at times, even after we establish the Prime Directive exists at all. VOY had similar problems going on, and while the situation there is different, the ethics were no less questionable.

I intend to continue watching this series to completion, of course, and I may watch the Animated Series afterward. But I cannot say I really enjoy this show thus far. It has far too much of Roddenberry’s influence for my taste. This was a problem for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but in a very different way; from what I understand, Roddenberry was the one responsible for all the long, drawn-out shots that made the movie feel like a padded out episode of the show itself, which, whether it would have made a good episode or not, made the movie horribly boring to watch as far as I’m concerned. Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan was superior in just about every way.

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The very thing that gives us humans our advanced cognitive abilities can also be our greatest weakness.

I tend to agree that Spock carries it, though I’m not too sure about Bones. I guess their interactions with eachother are what makes it worth it, but I personally don’t like Bones a whole lot, at least for where I’m at in this show. I agree with you about Kirk, though. He’s a menace in more ways than one.

Sulu and Uhura are pretty cool, though they don’t get nearly as much focus as Kirk, Spock, and Bones. I like Scotty, as well.

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The very thing that gives us humans our advanced cognitive abilities can also be our greatest weakness.

Some 10 years ago when I was working as a security guard a local station showed ToS at 1 in the night, every night. Which was nice since I was working then and in a security office with a TV, so I watched pretty much every episode. I rather enjoyed them. Sure they look a bit campy, the action is often silly and some of the writing really shows it's time, but in general I think that if you can take into considetarion when it was made the show has aged pretty well. I have to agree that it's not any single person that carries the show, but rather the collective. Shatner by himself would have been bad, but put in Nemoy and Kelley et al and you get total that is more than it's parts.

P.S. On another note they also showed Miami Vice. There is a show that is worth watching again.

I dunno, the way you describe watching it in a security office makes it sound as though you had nothing better to watch.

Anyway, I tend to disagree that it’s aged well. Spock is, in my opinion, one of the few redeeming qualities the show has at the point I’m at.

I think my perception might be skewed by the first season, however. Every Trek series has a bad first season, even TNG and DS9. I heard that TOS was the exception, but having seen it for myself, I really don’t agree with that assessment. I know they really didn’t have things down yet; we don’t even know about the United Federation of Planets until near the end of that first season, and for some reason Spock kept getting called a “Vulcanian”. These issues are not what I’m talking about when I’m complaining about the first season. It’s Kirk’s apparent disregard for other civilizations he visits when he forces his values on them, especially when it was none of his business. Bones even encouraged it one time (“The Apple”, a Season 2 episode) and it really annoyed me. I mean, granted, when the crew on the planet started influencing the local culture in a way Vaal didn’t seem to like, he decided to try having them killed rather than simply evicting them, but that’s beside the point. Spock was the sole voice of reason in that episode.

I realize these episodes may be few and far in between, but I cannot simply ignore the problem just because it came from the late 60’s. And I’m only in the early part of Season 2 now. Maybe they’ll get better about this, and things will start to look like the Star Trek I know and love.

The very thing that gives us humans our advanced cognitive abilities can also be our greatest weakness.